Tackling poverty without charity

Over a year ago

by Nick Montgomery

A lot of people are concerned about poverty, but fewer people are interested in connecting immense wealth to immense poverty. We might donate to charities, but most people with money aren't interested in thinking about the fact that their privilege comes at the expense of others. If you're making these connections, what are some of the links you've made between wealth and poverty? In what ways to rich people need poor people to maintain their lifestyles? Are you working with any anti-poverty groups that are doing something interesting?

Personally, in my own community, I'm doing outreach with street youth. We go to where youth are at (malls, skate parks, parks, overpasses) rather than asking them to come to us. This helps to demolish the power imbalance between service provider and service receiver. We're all equals and we work together to learn and reduce harm. There are other interesting things going on too: free schools, Food not Bombs, and urban agriculture are all ways that people are confronting the issues of poverty without placing themselves above poor people by 'giving' charity.

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